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June 8, 2012

Energy Transfer Comic

Energy transfer from worms to birds

This comic strip shows a mother bird feeding her babies worms she has picked from the ground. The energy transfer is only ten percent in each turn. The amount of energy is decreased by ten percent each time. As the birds eat the worms, they are gaining all the nutrients and necessary products from the worm. It isn't shown in the comic, but when a predator eats the birds, such as a hawk or snake, the energy of the worm will be transferred through the birds but at twenty percent less. This fact makes difficult for food chains to be infinite. There is always a loop. Also, the ten percent decrease each time makes it necessary for top carnivores to eat more of their prey to get more of their needed energy intake.

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